


Stationary Target

by Rainne



Series: Thank-You Fics [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 07:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4130124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainne/pseuds/Rainne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He has almost a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the killing field.  So far, it contains only a single body: one encased in what had once been beautiful red and gold armor.  It lies flat on the ground, mostly hidden by the tall grass, ruined.  He smirks each time his eyes flit across it.  A fitting end, really, for the one person who thought he was a match for the man with the sniper rifle.</p><p>~*~ </p><p>Set in the <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/198710">Let 'Em Come</a> universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stationary Target

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Maziki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maziki/gifts).



> This fic is part of my Thank-You Fics, so called because they have been written as thank-you gifts to people who have donated to my mother's cancer fund, which is helping to pay for my mother's chemotherapy treatments and eventual surgeries.
> 
> If you would like to know more about my writing and my gift fics and how to get a Thank-You Fic of your own, please visit [this Tumblr post](http://rainnecassidy.tumblr.com/post/118466323344/please-help). Thanks.

Bucky sits in his perch, calm and collected. He's surprisingly not bored; he kind of thought he would be, but he finds that he falls easily into a quiet, waiting mindset that catalogues everything it sees and hears but doesn't fall asleep and doesn't get bored or impatient.  It's like part of him just _knows_ that something's going to happen soon, and it maintains a gentle low-level alertness.

His perch is hidden well, up inside what might once have been a belfry, in a broken-down building that might once have been a church.  The land around the structure is clear for about a hundred feet, before tall grass gives way to scrub trees, which eventually give way to clear forest.

He has almost a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the killing field.  So far, it contains only a single body: one encased in what had once been beautiful red and gold armor.  It lies flat on the ground, mostly hidden by the tall grass, ruined.  He smirks each time his eyes flit across it.  A fitting end, really, for the one person who thought he was a match for the man with the sniper rifle.

There's a crackle in his ear and he hears a soft voice. "Alpha to Base, Alpha to Base, do you read me?"

"This is Base," he replies. "Go ahead, Alpha."

"The objective is in sight," Alpha Operative advises him.  "They've put the Widow on it."

"What, out in plain sight?" he asks.

"Yeah, she's just sitting there beside it," Alpha Operative replies.

"I think she's asleep," comes the voice of Beta Operative.  "I bet I could sneak up and steal it from her."

"You can't," Bucky snaps. "You'll be dead before you get close. Don't risk it."

"But she's just _out there_ ," Beta Operative says. "I could _totally_ do it."

"It's not the one in plain sight you have to watch out for," Bucky replies. "It's the one you don't see."

Just then, there's a yelp through the comms.  "I'm hit!" comes the voice of Delta Operative. "I'm hit!"

"I told you!" Bucky snarls. "Be careful!  Are you down, Delta?"

"No, it's just my arm," Delta replies. "Chelsea, come here and tie this up for me."

There's quite a lot of twittering through the comms for a moment after that, as the members of Bucky's team take care of their wounded comrade.  If it was any other mission, there'd be some snappish comments about chatter on the comms, but this isn't just any mission.  This is an ultra-super-serious training mission in which Bucky has been assigned to shepherd a team of four ten-year-old girls in an ultra-super-serious game of capture-the-flag paintball.

"All of you, get back under cover," Bucky says. "Now, look. We've got one down, that's Stark.  We've got one accounted for, that's the Widow.  But there's two more unaccounted for, and that's Hawkeye and Captain America.  Now, unless I miss my guess, it's gonna be Hawkeye that winged you, Delta.  So Cap's going to be out here somewhere, probably moving toward my position.  Gamma and I will worry about him."

He thinks for a second.  "All right.  Here's the plan.  Delta, since you're injured, you find a safe spot and go to ground, keeping your eyes on the Widow.  Let us know if she moves from that spot.  Okay?"

"Yes, sir, Base," Delta replies.

"Okay.  Alpha and Beta, you stay under cover, but see if you can get eyes on Hawkeye.  He's probably up high; he always says he sees better from a distance.  Once you get eyes on him, you keep on him, but don't let him take you out.  Stay covered.  Okay?"

"Yes, sir," the girls chorus.

"Okay," Bucky says. "Gamma Op."

"Sir, yes sir!" The girl called Ella, whose birthday is being celebrated in this highly unorthodox manner, pipes up over the comm.

"Gamma Op, your job right now is to go over there and stand on top of Tony Stark."

There's a long pause.  "On him, sir?  Like... _on_ him?"

"Yep. Right in the middle of his chest.  You're about to make yourself a big shiny target."

"Ohhhh," the girl breathes.  "I'm the bait?"

"You're the bait," Bucky confirms.  "Now, Gamma, I want you to understand something before you go out there.  This is a dangerous mission."

"I understand, sir."

"You could be killed."

"Sir," Gamma replies, "how many girls out there do you suppose there are who can say they got taken out at paintball by Captain America?"

Bucky considers that.  "Probably not very many."

"It will be my genuine honor and pleasure to give my life for this cause, Sergeant Barnes," Gamma says.

Bucky shivers. That was a little real.  But he shakes his head.  The kid's just getting into the play of it.  "All right, Gamma Op," he says. "Once more unto the breach."

"We who are about to die salute you!" the girl chirps, and then she trots out of cover with her gun in her hands.  She crosses through the scrubby trees and then into the tall grass, and she walks right over to where Tony Stark is lying on the ground, his armor covered in neon yellow paint.  She looks down at him. "Hi, Mr. Stark," she says.

Tony's faceplate rises, and he grins. "Hey, kid."

"Sergeant Barnes says I have to stand on your chest now."

"Ah," Tony says. "You're the bait."

"That's right."

"You know Cap's going to get you, right?"

"I know," she replies, climbing delicately onto his chest and standing there. "It's okay. This is fun.  And my mom's going to take us for ice cream afterward."

Steve, who's clearly been lying in wait, comes up out of the grass with a roar.  Gamma Op screams in surprise, falling backward off Tony's chest. Bucky fires three rounds - _bam, bam, bam_ \- and both of them fall.  No one rises. 

Bucky's cell phone vibrates in his pocket.  It's a text message from JARVIS.  It reads, _Captain Rogers wishes me to convey to you that he is shot in the face, the chest, and the genitals, and that retribution will be swift and terrible._

Bucky laughs.


End file.
